3 months ago, I decided to create a personal blog, where I can implement my idea and share it to the world. However, this first post was established later than I expected, yet its story might give you a slight idea about what I have done in those 90 days.

It is my final year in University, the time in which I have to go to school at 7.am and come back home at exactly 12 hours later. I put everything aside: my club, chatting time with friends, playing new3DS… all of them for one and only purpose: carry out my thesis with flying colour to have a better chance for studying higher. That’s the reason for everytime I know an opportunity, I try hard to take them seriously and hope the best thing will come. It seems to be easy to get things I want in the old time, which makes it be quite a shock to me when facing a burden.

Last month, I heard about ESSeminar 2015, a science conference hosted by students in Osaka University, in which I have a chance to visit not only labs there but also interview for MEXT scholarship. I failed at the 2nd screening test, the one I know the result this morning. Things go from bad to worse. I can not concentrate on studying, my head is spinning and keep repeating one questions: “What I have done wrong, sir?”

I guess it will be much better to write it down, although this is not the best, if you don’t say WORST, way to start a blog. I made a checklist of things I prepared, in which you can look at if by any chance, you want to apply it next year, or just kindly help me to figure what I did wrong in the first place.

I) Find labs you want to interview, give them the reason, and persuade them with your CV:

You should choose lab based on these rules:

Your professor should not be too old, around 55 or above. It’s near retired age and there is nothing guaranteer he can keep offering scholarship for you after that time.

The number of Doctor students partly determines your ability to develope, cause you can discuss with them, which can speed up establishing paper process.

The number of paper published reflects financial capability of lab.

In Japan, a few labs only accept native students, you should be aware of this.

Vietnamese student is not required, but if you are lucky, he/she can help you adapt the new environment quickly.

Search for website of each lab, check above information, take a look of their paper and find research interest that appropriate to you. These are WHY you want to go to the conference, PERSUADE them !!!

CV is thing that I saved for later posts.

II) Prepare abstract and poster for conference:

To research student, this is a natural skill like you have to brush your teeth after waking up in the morning. I’m quite surprised when knowing that most of poster designed with powerpoint. You can easily look for template on the internet. I believe the topic I chose make the interviewer think my paper is trash, no practical use. This one time confirm my thought when 3/4 interviewers are Vietnameses.

“Didn’t see that coming” is the most suitable phrase to express my feeling. They ask a Computer Science student about things he have not touched for nearly 4 years. It’s not the worst part, where he have to fight with other students from Physic, Biomedical, or Mechanical faculty. In the beginning, it’s not a fair play. In case you are curious about the question, it is about 12th grades knowledge like what is semiconductors, how to calculate K water, explain the distance of covalence bond…

About the interview, I prepared the poster for presentation(although they don’t ask for it). I tried to keep the communication between me and them flowing. Out of my expectation, they only spend 10 minutes for me while talking with the previous boy for more than 20.

It’s hard to say right now if I am okay or not. However, I hope this post can help you prepare for similar opportunity.